


you're slipping slowly from my reach

by matelotage



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Character Death, Hurt No Comfort, Not A Fix-It, asmodeus turn on ur location i just wanna talk, not beta read because i wrote this up quick and my feelings are still hurt after the break up scene, post 3x18, where magnus does decide to get rid of his memories of alec
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 02:00:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18511618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/matelotage/pseuds/matelotage
Summary: The warlock can’t explain why, but he can’t bring himself to leave this Shadowhunter all alone.





	you're slipping slowly from my reach

Blood flows in rivulets down the street, and that’s never a good sign.  
  
Magnus thinks it’d be smarter of him to keep moving and pretend he saw nothing, but he already knows he’s going to investigate this further.  
  
A late night autumn stroll through the city had seemed like a fine thing to do, but it was just his luck he’d stumble upon something like this.  
  
There’s been a fight, if the current state of the alleyway he just walked into is anything to go by. There’s trash littered about from the overturned dumpster off to the side, claw marks scratched deep into the brick walls. A lone arrow on the ground catches his eye, dripping in demon ichor. Whatever demon had been here was likely wounded at the very least. The red blood intermixing in the puddles of black was what was the real cause for concern.  
  
He finds the source of it a few feet ahead, a downed nephilim sprawled across the ground. The man’s hands are still clasped around his bow, deep gouges running across his chest and face. The smell of blood is overpowering, the poor soul looking as though he’d been made to take a bath in his own blood.  
  
He reaches down hesitantly and checks for a pulse, there isn’t one; not that he’d expected there to be in the first place. The warlock’s been around for a long time, no amount of magic at this point would be enough to save this man. He glances back up towards the warrior’s face, momentarily transfixed by the man’s eyes. They’re dull and faded with death, but somehow Magnus just knows they’d been _beautiful_ once. He respectfully closes the corpse’s eyes, a sense of _wrong_ settling into the pit of his stomach.  
  
Magnus knows he should leave and report this to the institute, inform the Shadowhunters that one of their own is deceased, but he makes no move to stand.  
  
The warlock can’t explain why, but he can’t bring himself to leave this Shadowhunter all alone.  
  
Without really thinking, he raises a hand, a spark of blue magic blanketing the corpse for a split second. There’s really no reason for him to clean the mass amounts of blood and grime from the body, but leaving this nephilim in such a state doesn’t sit well with him.  
  
The sudden tear that tracks down his face startles him more than the sound of boots rapidly hitting the pavement.  
  
He turns and spots two Shadowhunters sprinting towards him, a young man and woman looking as though the world had just ended. The woman’s sobbing, practically supporting the blond man’s weight as he struggles to match her pace.  
  
  
  
And if the way the two of them scream the name _‘Alec’_ as they get closer makes his heart clench, he can’t figure out why.  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> For the sake of this fic, Magnus forgot about the entirety of the Shadowfam, so that's why he doesn't know who Izzy & Jace are when they show up.
> 
> Fic title inspired by Without You I'm Nothing - Placebo because that's what I was listening to when I wrote this lol. 
> 
> Also we're all gonna collectively unite as a fandom and fight Asmodeus, right?? Right. Let's get on that.


End file.
